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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2000, p. 3230-3233, Vol. 66, No. 8
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Metabolic Activity of Permafrost Bacteria below the Freezing Point

E. M. Rivkina,1,dagger E. I. Friedmann,1,* C. P. McKay,2 and D. A. Gilichinsky3

Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306-11001; NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 940352; and Institute of Basic Biological Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia3

Received 4 February 2000/Accepted 13 May 2000

Metabolic activity was measured in the laboratory at temperatures between 5 and -20°C on the basis of incorporation of 14C-labeled acetate into lipids by samples of a natural population of bacteria from Siberian permafrost (permanently frozen soil). Incorporation followed a sigmoidal pattern similar to growth curves. At all temperatures, the log phase was followed, within 200 to 350 days, by a stationary phase, which was monitored until the 550th day of activity. The minimum doubling times ranged from 1 day (5°C) to 20 days (-10°C) to ca. 160 days (-20°C). The curves reached the stationary phase at different levels, depending on the incubation temperature. We suggest that the stationary phase, which is generally considered to be reached when the availability of nutrients becomes limiting, was brought on under our conditions by the formation of diffusion barriers in the thin layers of unfrozen water known to be present in permafrost soils, the thickness of which depends on temperature.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1100. Fax: (850) 644-9829. E-mail: friedm{at}bio.fsu.edu.

dagger Present address: Institute of Basic Biological Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2000, p. 3230-3233, Vol. 66, No. 8
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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